CMLL
Puebla’s Facebook posted the end of the semi-main. The focus was supposed to be Suicida defeating Stigma to set up a title match between them, but what caught my attention was Dulce Gardenia taking a hard headfirst fall into a front-row chair and bleeding from the inner ear pretty significantly. Dulce did wrestle on Tuesday so it may have not been major.
The scheduled main event was Hechicero defending the CMLL heavyweight championship against Gran Guerrero. CMLL announced Gran Guerrero couldn’t make the show due to a road being blocked, and Templario faced and lost to Hechicero instead in a non-title match. I haven’t seen the match but it sounded like nothing you need to find. There’s a comment on CMLL Puebla’s Facebook from a fan saying they also couldn’t make it because of the accident, so it appears to be a real issue. (There are also a lot of complaints about ticket prices not being what’s advertised.)
CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2022 Arena México [CMLL, Estrellas del Ring, Kaiser Sports, Marca]
1) Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II, Micro Ángel b Átomo, Chamuel, Perico Zakarías 
2) La Guerrera, La Magnifica, La Vaquerita b Amapola, La Seductora, Tiffany
Tecnicos took 1/3
3) Espíritu Negro, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa b Akuma, Dark Magic, Espanto Jr.
Tecnicos took 2/3
4) Atlantis Jr., Mephisto, Terrible b Esfinge, Fugaz, Star Black
Rudos took 1/3.
5) Místico b Ángel de Oro 
Mistico took 2/3
The main event sounds like the usual Mistico formula. CMLL’s Twitter is strangely confident this is start of many more matches between these two. Not much else here.
Star Black, Fugaz, and Esfinge are the new OneAtos unit. CMLL previously had Esfinge, Triton, and Titan using that name, and these three Jalisco wrestlers say they want Titan in this group too. They join the Puebla team (Arkalis, Stigma, and Pegasso) and the Queretaro & friend Rey Cometa, Espiritu Negro, and Dulce Gardenia as a midcard regional team. Teams seem like a thing this year.
CMLL (TUE) 04/19/2022 Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Arena Coliseo Guadalajara]
1) Atilus & Rey Urano b Aurelius & Maxiums
2) Adrenalina, Estrella Oriental, Minotauro b Bobby Black, Carlo Roggi, Fúnebre
3) El Divino, Optimus, Trono DRAW Joker, Omar Brunetti, Vaquero Jr.
4) Huitzil, Sangre Imperial, Suicida, Valiente Jr. b Ángel Rebelde, Espíritu Negro Jr., Halcón Negro Jr., Samuray Azteca
CDMX defeats Queretaro
5) Atlantis, Dulce Gardenia, Titán DQ Maléfico, Satánico, Zandokan Jr.
Satanico faked a foul from Atlantis
6) Explosivo, Niebla Roja, Volador Jr. b Bárbaro Cavernario, Demonio Maya, Principe Daniel
There will be a Guadalajara/Torreon match next week (and Guadalajara figures to win.)
CMLL (FRI) 04/22/2022 Arena México
1) Diamond & Flyer vs Disturbio & Raider
2) La Jarochita, Lluvia, Princesa Sugehit vs Dark Silueta, Reyna Isis, Stephanie Vaquer
3) Gran Guerrero & Último Guerrero vs Euforia & Soberano Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
4) Hechicero vs Niebla Roja, Titán, Sagrado, Dragón Rojo Jr., Stigma, Gemelo Diablo I, Gemelo Diablo II [CMLL Universal, battle royal]
Titan or Hechicero would be fun in the Universal final next week. Semi-main could be good. Raider gets a Friday match. CMLL and Ticketmaster finally fixed the TicketmasterLive link so you could buy this (but you probably should not.)
CMLL (SAT) 04/23/2022 Arena Coliseo
1) Acero, Aéreo, Kaligua vs Mercurio, Minos, Pequeño Polvora
2) Astral, Eléctrico, Sangre Imperial vs Dr. Karonte I, Dr. Karonte II, Enfermero Jr.
3) Magia Blanca, Robin, Suicida vs Grako, Nitro, Okumura
4) El Audaz vs Virus
5) Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Felino, Templario
Virus vs Audaz will inevitably be included in CMLL’s match of the month poll despite no one outside the arena getting to see it.
CMLL (SUN) 04/24/2022 Arena México
1) Fantasy, Shockercito, Último Dragóncito vs Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
2) Arkalis, Leono, Valiente Jr. vs Apocalipsis, Cholo, Inquisidor
3) Hombre Bala Jr., Panterita del Ring, Volcano vs Kráneo, Magnus, Rugido
4) Dulce Gardenia, Guerrero Maya Jr., Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Hijo del Villano III, Luciferno
5) Atlantis, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. vs Cavernario, Euforia, Rey Bucanero
I just wrote about the new set CMLL teams and they’re all split up randomly on this show.
Yahoo! Deportes talked to Ultimo Guerrero about his career. He dropped out of high school a semester short of getting his degree but did learn machine goals. That led him to work as a welder for pet cages as his day job when he was working for Promo Azteca. It’s mentioned he’s training Atlantis Jr. now, which makes sense on many levels.
Blue Panther stopped appearing in CMLL last September suddenly and without any explanation; the only information with a Miguel Reducindo column alluding to a longstanding health issue. He’s listed as appearing on CMLL Informa today so maybe we’ll find out what happened.
Starman, at an event on Saturday at his own gym, told Hector Godfrey TV that he’s returning to CMLL so. Starman, also as Ultraman Jr., was a regular for CMLL from 1996 to 2018, disappeared for a couple of years (knee issues?), and returned to CMLL in March 2020. That was an unfortunate time to return. He appeared sporadically the last couple of years and hasn’t been seen in Arena Mexico since August. Starman was an anonymous early match wrestler for most of that time and seemed to be hanging around in hopes for a mask payoff; there’s no great reason to bring him back unless CMLL is doing the mask match, but CMLL doesn’t need great reasons.
AAA
AAA held a press conference with Latin Lover on Wednesday, talking about his appearance on TripleMania Monterrey. Latin Lover left open the possibility of a return to the ring, which was a great way to make sure this would be covered everywhere. Latin Lover did not say he is wrestling, but it would thematically fit with this Anniversary year for him to be in a match for Mexico City. He mentioned Cibernetico, Chessman, and Mesias as opponents, which also reveals the minimal amount of attention he’s paid to AAA lately.
Pasala’s video interviews with AAA figures continued with Dorian Roldan on Tuesday. Roldan mentioned WWE’s offer to buy AAA, which has come up vaguely in the past. Here, he says it happened in 2009, right around the time of the swine flu/H1N1. AAA wasn’t interesting in selling but did ask WWE about a rumor of them coming to Mexico. The WWE officials said no, Dorian had discussions with AAA about how the Mexican wrestling business worked (he calls that an inexperienced move), and suddenly WWE was all over Mexico in the next couple of years. Roldan calls the following years a struggle, noting the AAA animated movie did not turn out as hoped and the video game ended in a lawsuit, and issues with Televisa. Roldan also explains he stopped playing an on-screen character because he didn’t like the experience of it even when it was going well – specifically noting a time he got pelted with objects from fans in Toluca – and he preferred to work behind the scenes.
We never got an exact timeline on the “WWE wanted to buy CMLL” story, but it figures it was around this time and happened for the same ulterior motives (wanting to acquire knowledge about the Mexican wrestling ecosystem for their own use.)
Dorian Roldan says here something he said in some of his Monterrey interviews this week, that the eight people in the mask match are the most important/relevant masks for the moment. To Pasala, he allows for some leeway by noting there are others who may fit that description but they either have legal issues with AAA or working for CMLL. Mistico & Atlantis fit the latter, Octagon & Hijo del Santo come to mind in the first category. Also, it’s promoter speak.
In her interview with Pasala, Marisela Pena said Paco Alonso told Antonio Pena that he didn’t expect AAA to last three months when Pena told Alonso he was quitting. It seems crazy to think AAA would only last three months with Televisa behind it, though the decades since have definitely seen many groups who thought they were going to be the next AAA and then vanished quickly.
Pentagon was Wednesday’s interview; nothing jumps out on the text recap. You can watch the video here.
Konnan, on his podcast, explained AAA decided to run more shows with the TripleMania name because they drew “16,000” the first time they ran a TripleMania Monterrey, and “16,000 again” the second time. The numbers are exaggerated even more than last time, as you’d expect. I agree that calling the show in Tijuana “TripleMania” will sell some additional tickets to traveling fans who might have not gone if the show was called “Verano de Escandalo.” AAA knew that would work because they ran multiple TripleManias prior, the first time Konnan was around.
Sunday’s AAA spot show in Orizaba saw Villano IV went a four-way over Canek, Blue Demon, and Psycho Clown, though by DQ when Canek Jr. ran in. It wasn’t clear from the poster, but this appeared to be a Psycho Clown produced show under “Psycho Producciones.”
Other News
There was a fan/wrestler incident on Sunday’s IWRG show. A woman from the upper level poured out a drink on Maravilla during her match; she threw something back and then cut a promo on her after the match. It slipped my mind, even though I saw a clip of it. The clip has since gotten passed around a lot in the last couple of days.
IWRG announced their next big show is Rey del Ring on 05/15. Also, Laredo Kid will be on Sunday’s show.
Relampago and Hijo del Alebrije had a mishap on the Arena Neza show Saturday that both were lucky to walk away from. Relmapago seemed to lose his footing while Alebrije was in the air. I’d be very careful what moves to try with Relampago, who seems to have had many injury problems in recent years and may not be fully recovered. (There’s also a Pirata Morgan bit with Relampago this week that isn’t worth explaining.)
Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. says his NOAH trip will be for three months. Texano Jr. said the same thing in an interview with Mas Lucha. It’s been unclear how long the Mexico contingent heading to shows at the end of the month – Wagner, Texano Jr., Super Crazy, Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane, Extreme Tiger – are going and I was surprised it was that long. Extreme Tiger is off of Expo Lucha for this tour (Astrolux will replace him); AAA is going to need a new Rey Xolo.
Black Taurus and Laredo Kid are in separate tag matches Thursday on Impact.
KAOZ, a promotion that runs no shows yet produces news anyway, introduced the new character Dark Zorro. He appears to be a return to the traditional Zorro character, not directly related to the ex-AAA one (who has also worked for KAOZ at times.) Facebook page Adictos al Ring mentions Dark Zorro is the former Vendagdor Radiactivo, who had a bit of a buzz last decade and later took on Dragon Dorado and Ultimo Legendario gimmicks.
GALLI has an IWRG Tag Team Championship match on 04/24 with champions Marshe Rockett & Bryce Benjamin defending against Golden Dragon & Atomico Jr. vs Bandido & Joey Marx. The Chicago guys came to IWRG to win the titles in 2019, then the pandemic happened, and I kept thinking one of the Mexican teams would just end up winning the titles and bringing the titles back, but it never happened and the whole thing went quiet.
GCW announced Bandido versus Nick Wayne (Take 2) for their 05/21 show in Los Angeles,
Marty Scurll is listed on a 05/28 Robles show in Torreon. I expect he’ll be a regular for them if he wants; they’re not a group that’s going to be concerned with his issues and he seemed to be important of ROH when Rush had his biggest success.
RIOT announced their 06/04 show will take place at AIRO in San Pedro, a significantly more upscale location than Arena Femenil.
Super J Cast noted Mascara Dorada RT-ed an announcement for the NJPW Best of Super Juniors. Dorada tweets about three things: Jesus, FIFA and shows he’s working, so it seems likely he’s back in NJPW for those shows.
Local wrestler Rey Mysterio Jr. visited the Tijuana commission on Tuesday. I tend to avoid wearing Cubs gears at wrestling shows because it’s too weird but Rey Mysterio can wear a big Rey Mysterio jacket and it looks right.
An interview with Oaxaca’s Endeavor.
A story on a mask collector in Torreon. Nerd alert: El Siglo de Torreon starts off the article with a memory of a very specific match in April 15, 1957. The same newspaper covered lucha libre in 1957 and that match doesn’t appear to have happened that day (because that day was a Monday, shows in that venue were on Sundays and the main event that Sunday was something different.) It’s a good story though.
LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania and the latest Lucha Report.
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